Note:
Wired magazine and Wired News aren't related anymore. Wired News was
purchased by Lycos a while ago; Wired magazine is now owned by Conde
Nast.
I mention it because Wired magazine would not publish an article
touting homeopathy.
Alex Heard
Executive Editor, Wired
>Wired has an article this morning about a supposed scientific theory
>explaining why and how homeopathic medicines could work. I have done
>some web research though and found an even more interesting story behind
>the story.
>
>http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,33749,00.html
>
>In homeopathy, materials are diluted repeatedly, to an astronomical
>degree. One drop of solution is mixed with 99 drops of pure water and
>shaken to form a more dilute solution. This may be repeated dozens of
>times, until statistically there is no chance that even a single molecule
>of the original remains (unless it stuck to the glass, I suppose).
>Homeopaths say that the MORE diluted it gets, the STRONGER it gets,
>exactly the opposite of conventional medical reasoning.
>
>Wired writes, quoting a homeopath's book:
>
> Validation of the dilution process came in a roundabout way, thanks
> to research by California Institute of Technology chemistry professor
> Shui Yin Lo, who was performing experiments on how to improve car
> engine efficiency.
>
> Lo found that water molecules, which are random in their normal state,
> begin to form a cluster when a substance is added to water and the
> water is vigorously shaken -- the exact process homeopaths use to
> create their medicine.
>
> Lo said every substance exerts its own unique influence on the water,
> so each cluster shape and configuration is unique to the substance
> added. With each dilution and shaking, the clusters grow bigger and
> stronger. This water, which homeopaths call "potentized," is considered
> "structured water," because the water molecules have taken on a shape
> influenced by the original substance.
>
> The clusters start to assume a form that mimics the structure of the
> original substance itself. So even though the chemical can no longer
> be detected, its "image" is there, taken on by the water molecules.
>
>This would be remarkable if true. Now for the really interesting
>part. I found a web page devoted to debunking these claims,
>http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/ATG/. It seems that Dr. Lo, presently a
>visiting professor at Caltech, is Director of R&D at a company called ATG
>which is exploiting his technology with some very questionable products,
>including an additive for your air filter that will improve your car's
>performance, and the "Laundry Ball" which will clean your clothes without
>detergent (both of these products have been forced off the market as
>fraudulent in some states).
>
>Lo's research has been described as involving the discovery of "room
>temperature ice" (shades of Kurt Vonnegut!). A press release from ATG
>from the site above reads:
>
> A Unique Non-Melting Ice Crystal Found in Room Temperature Water:
> Significant Implications for Medicine, Manufacturing, and the
> Environment
>
> New research by a group of California scientists at the American
> Technologies Group have discovered, identified, and characterized a
> unique type of stable (non-melting) ice crystals that maintain an
> electrical field. These scientists and several leading university
> professors are finding significant applications of these unique ice
> crystals in medicine and pharmacy, in combustion enhancement, and in
> surfactants and cleansing agents.
>
> Specifically, they have been found to increase significantly the
> antibody and cell-mediated immune responses to infection and cancer.
> They have been found to improve gas combustion and reduce pollution
> emissions. They have also been found to improve significantly the
> efficacy of large industrial furnaces used to make ingredients for
> the manufacture of plastics.
>
> Shui-Yin Lo, PhD, a visiting professor at the California Institute
> of Technology and an internationally respected theoretical physicist,
> has led a team of scientists to confirm the existence and significant
> of the ice crystals and their electrical fields.
>
> The existence of these ice crystals has been verified with photographs
> from an electron microscope, providing two-dimension al pictures of
> the ice crystals, and the newly developed Atomic force microscope
> which provides three-dimensional photographs of the crystals. Dr. Lo
> calls these ice crystals, IE crystals ("I" stands for ice, and "E"
> for the electrical field that is emanated from them). The IE crystals
> look a bit like a lentil bean and have a flat disc configuration. The
> crystals congregate into clusters that range from 15nm to several
> microns in size and can even be seen with a light micrscope using
> high power magnification.
>
>Read the site for more surprises: the Scientology connection, a possible
>stock scam, board members who were involved with another scam company,
>and other miraculous technologies coming soon from ATG (including the
>health products hinted at above).
>
>Oh, it also turns out that Lo got into the dilution research with the
>specific intention of copying homeopathic procedures. He didn't just
>stumble into it as the Wired article implies.
>
>Hal
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